Winter Park Employees To Get Bonuses After All

The Percentage Will Be Smaller Than In The Past - A Fact That Makes Firefighters Unhappy.

October 10, 1991|By Karen Pankowski Of The Sentinel Staff

WINTER PARK — City Manager Tony Barrett has changed his mind and will be giving out end-of-year bonuses to some city employees this week - but the checks may be smaller.

That upsets some members of the Winter Park Professional Firefighters union.

''We're shocked,'' said Fire Lt. Mike Vershel, one of two labor negotiators representing 11 middle-management union firefighters. ''Our attorney believes that we are entitled to the same percentage of money as last year and the year before.''

The goals and objectives bonus program traditionally has been a way the city can give extra money - up to 2 1/2 percent of a person's salary - to ''exempt'' employees at the end of the fiscal year. Such employees earn a fixed annual salary and are not eligible for overtime pay.

Barrett had said he would not give out any goals and objectives bonuses for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 because of a tight budget year. About $60,000 had been set aside for the program.

This month, he changed his mind. In a memo, Barrett said eligible employees could receive up to $350, and he told department heads how much money they could allocate for the bonuses. The money to be spent ranged from $150 for the utilities department to $2,400 for the fire department.

''I re-evaluated it and we had some money left and I decided to do it,'' Barrett said. He said the money would come out of $35,000 that was left over from merit raises and bonuses and put in a reserve fund.

In all, Barrett allocated $8,250 for the bonuses. He said about 60 employees are eligible for the bonuses and checks should be distributed today.

But Vershel said the $2,400 for the 11 exempt firefighters means their bonuses may be as much as one-third of what they received in 1990.

For example, Vershel said he got a $600 bonus last year, while this year he can expect about $218 if the money is equitably distributed.

''It's just a token to shut us up,'' Vershel said, adding that the firefighters plan to ask the city for bigger bonuses. He said they will do ''whatever it takes'' and implied they might picket City Hall if need be.

The union firefighters work under a contract with the citywhich is being renegotiated.

Barrett said just because money may be budgeted for a program doesn't mean the city has to spend it. The downturn in the economy meant cost-cutting across the board, including paring down the bonus program, he said.

None of the 10 department heads and two other employees who received cash bonuses in lieu of merit raises last month are eligible for a goals and objectives bonus, which was dropped from the budget for this fiscal year. Barrett also said the city was automatically awarding the bonuses instead of basing them on an employee's performance.

As for the firefighters, this is not the first time their relationship with the city manager has been strained.

Last year, firefighters and paramedics charged Barrett was ''intimidating and abusive'' when they met with him to discuss the accidental spraying of two fire stations with a toxic herbicide in May 1990.

At that time, some firefighters said the city did not move fast enough to order the evacuation of the stations.